Will you celebrate Labor Day?

By Bob Morrison

Thursday

Aug 29, 2019 at 11:04 AM

The origin of Labor Day and the reasons for its creation as a national holiday are largely lost to the memory of today’s workers and lost from our history lessons. For 21st Century Americans it will be worthwhile to consider what was gained and what has been lost in the rise and decline of the labor movement.

The official holiday was declared in 1894 to recognize and celebrate the early achievements of trade and labor unions that benefited workers in a rapidly changing economy. As agriculture became more efficient, many Americans migrated to cities and towns for jobs in mechanized manufacturing and service occupations. Immigration to the USA was at high levels and economic growth was amazingly rapid.

But the benefit of the growth went mostly to the “capitalists” as they were known at the time. Today we call them entrepreneurs or investors. They were the owners of the extremely profitable coal, steel, textile, furniture, railroad and other businesses that blossomed in our industrial revolution. Their employees often worked 12-14 hour days, 7 days a week for bare subsistence wages. Working conditions were hazardous. Child labor was common, and abuses were horrific.

Many workers found the situation intolerable so they began to organize themselves to demand better wages, safe working conditions and the end of child labor. Under the laws of the day they were often prosecuted for “conspiracy” against their employers. Banding together to negotiate better conditions was found to be illegal by some courts. Even when it was found legal, many employers would hire workers only if they signed a contract saying that they would not join a union.

Workers persisted in forming unions, legal or not, and began striking — refusing to work — until employers improved wages and conditions. There was violence. Some of it was by strikers trying to prevent non-union workers from taking their jobs. The most massive incidents of violence were on behalf of employers and carried out by law enforcement, American military, or the company’s private security contractors. Some of the work stoppages affected the whole economy, most notably by a near total stoppage of rail transportation.

Then, as if conditions were not already bad enough, came the massive unemployment of the great depression which made it even harder for employees to increase their incomes.

President Franklin Roosevelt and his Democratic majority sided with workers, passing the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Wagner Act, and other laws that created the 40-hour week, mandatory overtime wages, a minimum wage and a legal right for workers to unionize.

The political and economic power of labor unions peaked in that environment, resulting in the birth of what we now call “the middle class.” The labor laws demanded by unions also enabled non-union workers to earn resources and time to educate children, preserve their own health, save some money, purchase homes and consumer goods, thereby fueling another great period of economic growth with their consumer spending.

The purchasing power of American workers peaked in 1973 and has never fully recovered. Since that time, most of the benefits of our economic growth have gone to the owners (whether we call them capitalists, entrepreneurs or investors).

Wage workers have lost ground. Today we see inventive new forms of worker abuse. There’s the “gig economy” where you can drive for Uber or do some other form of independent contracting with no assurance of salary and no benefits. There’s labor by undocumented immigrants who don’t dare complain or organize for fear of retribution by employers who are rarely prosecuted for violating employment laws.

Since the Republican “Reagan Revolution” the influence of unions has been decimated by “right to work” laws that make it impossible for workers to vote for a union that all workers must join. Low-wage employers have flocked to states with those laws where they know they won’t have to negotiate with their employees. The purchasing power of our national minimum wage is 20 percent less than it was in 1968.

As we enjoy the holiday that honors labor, we would be wise to wonder why and how American workers have lost so much of their power to influence their wages, benefits and working conditions. The effort required to regain it will be every bit as great as the effort of prior generations who created middle class America and the American dream.

* Bob Morrison is a retired health care executive who lives in Asheboro. Read more of his columns at www.bobmorrison.org. Contact: bob@bobmorrison.org.

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